Nazareth and Ithaca Suffer Losses
Coast Guard 75, NAZARETH 60
Nazareth met Coast Guard in a non-conference women's basketball game Sunday afternoon in the Land of Magic Classic in Daytona Beach, Florida. The Bears used a 17-3 scoring run in the final five minutes of the first half to pull away from the Golden Flyers, and Coast Guard went on to defeat Nazareth 75-60. Juniors
Lindsey Kelly and
Julia Brew led the Golden Flyers' offense with 20 points and 17 points, respectively.
Following the loss, Nazareth drops to 3-4 overall. The Golden Flyers will look to end their four-game losing streak Monday when they play Wesleyan at 12 p.m. With the victory, Coast Guard improves to 3-4 overall.
A three-point basket by Brew extended Nazareth's early lead, 7-2, only 2:46 into regulation. Brew's basket followed a layup by senior
Melissa Reeves and Kelly. After the Bears cut into the Golden Flyers' advantage, junior
Colby McCartney connected on another shot from outside the arc to reclaim Nazareth's five-point lead, 12-7. Coast Guard answered with an 8-0 run to take its first lead of the game just 1:20 later. Neither team was able to stretch their lead to more than four points until the final five minutes of the stanza when the Bears used a 17-3 scoring run to take a 45-29 lead at the break.
In the opening 20 minutes, Coast Guard shot a torrid 57 percent (16-28) from the field and connected on nine free throws to build its lead. Nazareth, meanwhile, converted 43 percent (12-28) of its field goal attempts and hit nearly 57 percent (5-9) of their three-point attempts. The Golden Flyers' 12 turnovers hurt their offensive rhythm and provided the Bears with extra possessions and easy baskets.
Coast Guard's Alexi Howland opened the second period with a shot from outside the arc to continue the Bears' momentum, and it ignited a 13-5 run to give Coast Guard a 58-34 lead with 12:39 to play. Over the next 10 minutes, the Golden Flyers rallied to bring their deficit to within single-digits, 68-60, with 2:39 to play in regulation. Kelly ignited the 26-10 scoring run with a layup and recorded 12 additional points during the run on three layups and six free throws. Senior
Hannah Runyon added a pair of free throws and a layup while junior
Sam Sorge connected on a layup and one free throw. Brew capped the run with her fourth three-pointer of the game. On the Golden Flyers' following possession, Brew had a great three-point shot opportunity to trim Nazareth's deficit to only five points, but her attempt was off the mark.
The Bears secured the victory by connecting on 7-8 free throw opportunities in the final 1:32 and holding Nazareth scoreless following Brew's final three-point bucket.
The Golden Flyers' defense held Coast Guard to only 30 percent (9-30) shooting from the field in the second half while Nazareth converted 36 percent (9-25) shots. The Golden Flyers made 86 percent (12-14) of their free throws. Similar to the first half, the Golden Flyers also hurt themselves with turnovers as they committed 11 in the second half. For the game, Coast Guard scored 20 points off Nazareth's 23 turnovers while the Golden Flyers recorded eight points off the Bears' 14 turnovers.
Kelly's eight rebounds helped Nazareth record a 36-32 advantage in total rebounds. Runyon also had six boards while Sorge and Brew each grabbed five. Reeves finished with eight points as she connected on 4-5 field goals. Sorge added five points, Runyon had four, and McCartney and junior Veronia Peck chipped in three apiece.
Plattsburgh 76, ITHACA 66
The nationally ranked Ithaca College women's basketball team suffered just its second loss of the season to SUNY Plattsburgh in Puerto Rico on Sunday, 76-66. Ithaca is now 6-2 on the season after its three-game winning streak was snapped.
The Bombers held their largest lead of three points in the contest up to the 15:12 mark of the first half, 12-9, on a layup from senior Francesca Cotrupe, but Plattsburgh answered with a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to take a 16-12 edge. Ithaca responded with its own 6-0 run in a 1:13 span to regain the advantage at 18-16 with just over 11 minutes left in the half. The Cardinals scored on their ensuing possession to tie the game up at 18-18, and then the teams would trade baskets up to another deadlock at 22-22. From there, freshman Erin Woop net a pair of free throws with 7:26 to put the Bombers back in front, 26-24, but that was the last time Ithaca would lead in the game. Plattsburgh drilled a three-pointer 15 seconds later and would go on to build a 34-28 cushion at intermission.
Cotrupe started the second half with an and-one to pull Ithaca back to within three points at 34-31, but Plattsburgh scored seven straight points to take a 10-point lead at 41-31 with 16:28 left in regulation. Senior Samantha Klie hit back-to-back jumpers to trim four points off Ithaca's deficit at the 14:46 mark, only to watch the Cardinals go on another run to put the game out of reach. This time, Plattsburgh went on a 14-3 run over the next 3:41 to built its largest lead of the contest at 55-38. Ithaca would attempt to come back, and chipped away to an eight-point deficit, 63-55, with just under six minutes to go, but Plattsburgh quickly went back up by 15 points to finish off the 76-66 setback for the Bombers.
Cotrupe finished the game with nine points on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, while junior Keri Steele paced Ithaca with 12 points on 4-for-8 from the field. Klie chipped in eight points, four steals and three rebounds, and freshman Julie Yacovoni added nine points (4-for-5) and three rebounds.
Senior Ali Ricchiuti finished with seven points. Senior Ally Mnich and sophomoreErin Ferguson each added six points. Freshman Jordan Beers netted five points for the Bombers.
Ithaca shot 23-for-58 from the floor (39.7-percent), but struggled from three-point range, making just two of 21 attempts. Plattsburgh shot 25-for-53 overall and 6-for-15 from distance.